Davis-Besse temporarily shuts down

Editor's Note: This version corrects the time of the plant shutdown and indicates it remains shut down.

OAK HARBOR, Ohio -- The Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station remained shut down today after one of its four reactor coolant pumps experienced trouble.

Jennifer Young, a FirstEnergy spokesman, said today the plant automatically shut down around 9:20 p.m. Saturday after an apparent electrical problem with a pump motor. She said no injuries occurred and there are no threats to public safety.

“We are still able to provide adequate cooling to the reactor,” she said.

Workers are on site today figuring out what caused the problem and how to fix it. Ms. Young didn’t know when the plant may start up again, but said it’s unlikely to restart today.

Some residents reported hearing a loud noise Saturday night, a sound caused by non-radioactive steam leaving the vents during the shutdown process, Ms. Young said. The steam is created to turn the turbines to spin the generator when electricity is made.

Ms. Young said operators expect to know more Monday after further assessment is completed. She said customers will see no power interruption and said the incident was reported to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

NRC spokesman Viktoria Mitlyng, from the agency’s Chicago office, said an NRC resident inspector has been involved in monitoring the situation and will review the incident to try to determine a cause.

“Our residents were there to make sure that everything runs smoothly, and there were no complications. At this point, what we are doing is just monitoring the plant’s troubleshooting actions to figure out what happened,” she said. “The plant is in a stable condition.”

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